When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

#588 - Beer Hall Riot

The tavern door creaked open, the sounds of boisterous chatter and clinking glasses assaulting Jean's ears, making him reflexively scratch his itchy ear canal.

In the dim light, Liborel, sitting behind a greasy fir table, beckoned Jean with his ink-stained printer's hand, its nails a mess: "Here, sit here!"

Shedding his woolen waistcoat, Jean sat next to Liborel, who thumped him on the shoulder. "What took you so long? What were you doing?"

Tugging at the sleeve of his linen shirt to cover his arm, Jean's eyes darted around. "I overslept."

Liborel sized Jean up but didn't call him out. Instead, he stood up proactively. "Come, let's drink to our supreme protectors and people's representative, Jean! His proposal to reduce the death tax not only passed but passed overwhelmingly!

Based on Representative Jean's input, His Highness Hohen has reduced the death tax to zero. From now on, our farmers will no longer have to pay it!"

"Well done, Jean!"

"The farmers have suffered too much. It should be this way."

Their voices were so loud that everyone in the tavern looked over.

After understanding their conversation, wealthy farmers excitedly rushed over to hug and thank Jean, some even kissing him.

Jean had clearly never received such treatment before and his face flushed red.

Although the votes of the left, center, and right representatives only served as a reference, the two Protectors had the power to appoint and dismiss representatives, as well as veto and approve with ten thousand votes.

But who could say that the voting results didn't influence the two Protectors' judgment? Didn't His Serene Highness also pass this bill?

After everyone drank, they sat down again, drinking and chatting idly over the blood sausage and glutinous rice pudding on the table.

"Today, we won a great victory in the Constitutional Assembly. You should have seen the faces of those nobles, as black as donkeys. They went back without even having dinner."

"Hahahaha—"

"If you ask me, the most regrettable thing is that the power to allow people's representatives to participate in the election of the monarch was not passed."

"His Highness Hohen tried his best to fight for us, but it was vetoed by His Serene Highness with ten thousand votes. Fortunately, the priests have obtained the power to elect the monarch."

"With the priests, at least our opinions can be valued."

"I want to drink to His Highness Hohen, cheers!"

The representatives of the farmers and citizens raised their glasses again and drank heartily.

Putting down his glass, Liborel wiped his mouth. "I just don't know when Article One of the Constitution will be passed."

"Yes, they argue every day. The two Protectors keep vetoing it. Everyone is tired of arguing."

Speaking of this topic, everyone's enthusiasm waned a bit.

For the past three days, they had been arguing over Article One of the Constitution every morning, revising it dozens of times and voting on it dozens of times, only to have it vetoed by either His Highness Hohen or Her Highness Melia.

As the meeting progressed, even these uneducated representatives understood its meaning: it determined whether they could legally overthrow or expel their lords.

This was truly shocking. In the barbarian kingdom of Norne, such things often happened.

But in the civilized world west of the Dragon Mountains, such things had been unheard of since the establishment of the Divine Aier Empire!

But they vaguely looked forward to it. What if it really passed?

Although they themselves did not have the power to overthrow the aristocratic lords, weren't there two Protectors?

These nobles couldn't even resist Prince Condé. If they dared to disobey secretly, could they resist the two Protectors who had defeated Prince Condé head-on?

The two Protectors didn't come to power through a coup but through violence.

"Don't worry. Although it may not be resolved even after another seven or eight days of arguing, there will definitely be a compromise," a notary representative said, chewing on a meat roll. "The two Protectors are both geniuses and noble. They will always find a way and will not let this matter divide Thousand Valleys."

Everyone agreed, and even Jean nodded.

Although many representatives were just figureheads and didn't care much, they realized how important their position was during these three days of meetings.

In the past, laws were promulgated after the lord and a few ministers discussed them and then directly issued them.

But now, they were actually standing on the scene of formulating laws and could also make suggestions.

In three days, the Constitutional Assembly passed the "Divine Serene Duke Election Law," the "Church Property Nationalization Law," and the "Abolition of Death Tax Law," and also rejected the "Abolition of Common Land Law," the "Aristocratic Military Power Law," the "Deprivation of Monastery Franchise Law," and the "Unified Land Registration Bill."

This inevitably made these representatives feel proud. They were also big shots now, "masters!"

Unfortunately, this thought only lasted for a second before a deerskin boot stepped on their table, and a drunken Duke's Army knight glared at them. "Get out of the way. I want to sit here."

"I came first. We haven't finished eating yet!" a representative immediately complained.

The knight slapped him across the face. "I don't care what representative you are. I'm a knight, and you're a commoner. Commoners should give way to knights. Get out!"

The previous fantasy instantly shattered. The representatives exchanged glances and could only obediently stand up, preparing to leave.

But just as Jean stood up, he felt a thick palm pressing on his shoulder. "No need to give way. You are people's representatives, representing the people's will. Why should you give way to this devil's lackey?"

Jean looked up and saw a black-clad soldier with a scar on his face coldly staring at the knight.

"What's it to you?" Although the knight looked down on the Salvation Army, he must have received Melia's order not to rashly clash with the Salvation Army soldiers.

Several more black-clad soldiers who had finished patrolling stood out behind the scarred soldier. "You threatened a representative and disrupted the constitution. Please leave."

"Damn you, you lowly people, you dare to ask me to leave just because you're wearing black skin?" The knight instantly flared up, grabbed the glass on the table, and splashed the wine on the scarred soldier's face.

Wiping the wine from his face, the scarred soldier laughed in anger. "Alright, alright, brothers, throw him out."

"Touch me and see what happens!"

"Grab his hands! You dare to bite people?"

"Hey, let go of your grandfather. Show some skill and fight one-on-one!"

The knight was drunk and no match for these newly arrived Salvation Army soldiers. He was knocked down in a few blows, grabbed by the neck, and thrown out of the tavern.

Stumbling around on the ground twice, the knight wiped his bloody nose and stood up. Before he could say anything harsh, he felt someone supporting his shoulders.

Turning his head, he saw a group of Duke's Army soldiers passing by on a shift change. The leading knight had a gloomy face. "What's going on?"

"I was drinking in the tavern, and they said I was a noble and threw me out," the knight immediately began to distort the facts when he saw his own men.

It had to be said that this sentence hit the Duke's Army knights' weak spot.

They were afraid that after the Constitutional Assembly, they, who were clearly nobles, would become figures that everyone hated. This kind of argument and rumor had been spreading in the Duke's Army for a long time.

Dozens of Duke's Army soldiers on a shift change immediately surrounded the tavern. The black-clad soldiers were not to be outdone and immediately ran out, shouting and calling for reinforcements from the black-clad Salvation Army soldiers patrolling the street corner.

Soon, two officers and two knight captains stood in the middle, negotiating with the original scarred soldier and drunken knight.

The passersby who had seen this scene ran away directly, and the customers in the tavern quickly paid their bills and left.

"Let's go, let's go!"

After this incident, the representatives were not in the mood to continue drinking. They paid their bills and prepared to leave.

They had only walked a few steps out of the tavern when they saw dozens of black-clad soldiers rushing towards them, and the Duke's Army soldiers patrolling the street corner were also rushing towards them at a fast pace.

"Holy Father, go back! Go back!"

The representatives who had just walked out of the tavern immediately shrunk back.

They squatted in the corner, peeking out of the window.

In just a few minutes, the two sides had gathered nearly a hundred soldiers. They each occupied one side, pushing each other with their shoulders and chests, or provoking each other with elbow strikes.

But soon this provocation turned into a brawl, with fists and feet flying, and constant cursing. Instead, the officers and knights were still standing at the door.

They didn't join the brawl. Soldiers fighting was a common occurrence. The Salvation Army and the Duke's Army would fight even within their own ranks.

Fighting occasionally to release themselves was healthier.

Moreover, it wasn't the first time the Salvation Army and the Duke's Army had fought. Both sides had strict military discipline, so there hadn't been any trouble.

Now they had all accumulated a stomach full of resentment because of Article One of the Constitution. It was good to vent it appropriately, waiting for the military police and senior nobles to arrive.

Even the Salvation Army officer was sticking his head out, shouting to the representatives inside, "Those who want to leave can leave. Go under the eaves, and I'll tell them to make way for you. Don't delay tomorrow's Constitutional Assembly."

"Thank you, thank you."

The representatives flattered them and quickly walked to the door as a group. Just as they were about to leave, they heard a sharp "bang!".

"Ah!"

A Duke's Army soldier clutched the bloody hole in his arm and fell to the ground.

"Go back, go back!" The representatives who had just walked out of the door rushed back into the tavern again.

Seeing someone using a holy rifle, the patrolling Salvation Army officer immediately realized that something was wrong. He quickly stood up to explain and question.

"Who, who fired the gun?!" He jumped onto the wine barrel outside the tavern, trying his best to shout to the crowd, "Wait, this is a misunderstanding, we didn't…"

The Duke's Army knight ran towards the "war zone" even more. "No knives allowed, I'll see who dares…"

"Swish—"

Before he could finish speaking, the officer standing on the wine barrel and shouting about a misunderstanding wailed and fell off the wine barrel, clutching the crossbow bolt in his thigh.

The whole place was silent for a second. The next second, a surging wave of sound came overwhelmingly.

"Damn dung beetles, fight them!"

"Put down the gun, who brought out the holy rifle?"

"Don't do it, do you want to split Thousand Valleys?"

"Kill the nobles, support the constitution!"

Several sober officers and knights were still trying to restrain the soldiers' behavior, but the Black Champion monks were originally from the slums, so their discipline wasn't as good as the Imperial Guards.

The mountain knights were even more mountain people, and their temperament was originally violent. Seeing their own people fall, there was even less to say.

Nearly a hundred soldiers began to fight or rather, fight at the tavern entrance. Both sides even drew their military knives and longswords, and occasionally, the sound of holy rifles and arrows being fired could be heard.

The officers and knights were trying their best to stop them, shouting and confiscating the holy rifles and crossbows. The pungent smell of blood floated into the tavern through the doors and windows.

The customers in the tavern were sobered up no matter how drunk they were. They lay on the floor full of wood chips, covering their heads and shivering.

Several people's representatives huddled in the corner, not even daring to breathe loudly.

Only Liborel looked at the flying arrows, suddenly gritted his teeth, picked up a door panel, and prepared to rush out.

Jean quickly grabbed his ankle and asked in horror, "What are you going to do?"

"We must call the military police and the night watchmen, otherwise, if this spreads, everything will be over, and all our laws will be abolished."